EP367: Enneagram 101 - Triad Harmony: Dancing Through the Enneagram's Triangle

Okay, I know you may have heard about the Enneagram or someone told you you need to know all about it. So here you are.

But what the hell do you do with it? Great news.

You are in the right place. Lead with the Enneagram is the show where you will actually learn how to use this incredible growth tool and apply it in all areas of your life, personally and professional. Hi, I'm Tracy and to be honest with you, I was a skeptic of the Enneagram before I started to actually integrate it into my life. In fact, in true enneagram 8 style, I told my therapist to F off when she wanted me to dive into.

It well over a decade ago.

Now that I have more than a decade of experience using the Enneagram and working on myself in my family with those closest to me, building my own bulletproof leadership, sales teams with one on one clients, couples, leading workshops for top Fortune 100 executives, and speaking to large audiences all across the globe about this powerful tool. I've got the proof and deep understanding.

Of how to help you implement this.

Into your life instead of it just being some fun thing you heard about. The Enneagram can be a complex model. But with me as your guide, I will show you how to first lead yourself in a powerful, effective and compassionate way and then help you lead others that way in your life as well. This podcast will have powerful conversations with guests, live typing sessions, and as well as solo episodes of breaking down dynamics of the Enneagram and how they impact your life, career and relationships. So now let's dive in.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Lead with the Enneagram. I'm your host, Tracy Al Malley and today is an enneagram101 episode. And today we are talking about the significance of the triangle within the framework and the diagram of the Enneagram. Before I do, I want to explain to you what the Enneagram is very briefly. You know, I'm a bottom line me, what's in this for me kind of person and the way that I explain things is in very.

Digestible information. If you are somebody that needs to gts Google that and know all the ins and outs, you absolutely can do that. But the Enneagram and why you need it in your life is because it is this beautiful self awareness tool that brings nature and nurture together to help you have a better understanding with compassion, with empathy, with love, with grace of yourself and other people. Because when we have full awareness of ourselves, we can acknowledge kind of where this is rooted from and take compassionate, effective action. This is where we can make the impact, impact in our lives, in the lives of everyone we touch. And so I love to share this tool because it gives you language and framework and a systemized kind of approach to the complex being that you are. It is not a label. It is not a box that, you know we're putting you in. This is absolutely something that can help you kind of see yourself back to your soul's calling all along. So I wanted to kind of say that to you. The focus of this episode will be the significance of the triangle in the Enneagram symbol and the concept of triads. So what a triangle means, honestly, is like, we're all interconnected and a shared kind of community or characteristics. So even though we might be different Enneagram types and all sorts of things, it definitely will help you realize through the triangle. That means we're a lot more connected, even if we're different than you might have think than you might think. The shape of the triangle in the Enneagram symbolizes and represents several key concepts and relationships with the Enneagram system. Unity and wholeness. You know, the circle, which was last week's enneagram101 episode, was really focused on unity and wholeness and a constant kind of process, right? It represents the initial or the essential unity of the human psyche. And the idea that all the different 9 enneagram archetypes are interconnected and part of a whole. And this unity is fundamental concept in the Enneagram, as it suggests that every type has elements of all the other types within them. The other thing about the shape of the triangle and what it represents is lines of connection. The lines connecting the points of the triangle represent the dynamic relationships between the types in the Enneagram system. Each type is connected to two other types through these lines. And these connections are significant because they illustrate how individual types can move towards or borrow traits from other types under different circumstances or levels of health and stress. It doesn't mean that we change our types. It doesn't mean we're going to be motivated like those types or fear like those types. But we can take on different kind of things, sometimes to our benefit, sometimes to our destruction. So this can be really, really helpful. Integration and disintegration also helps you understand what those paths look like through the lines that we're connected to. Movement and growth, balance and harmony, all of those things. The other thing, the other parts of the triangle and what that means are like the triads. And the most commonly known triad, the Three primary triads are the centers of intelligence.

We have the gut or instinctive triangle or triad, center of intelligence. We have the heart, the feeling triad, center of intelligence, and the head triad or center of intelligence. And what that means being in that center of intelligence with two other types is that you have a shared kind of common.

Motivation. Now, if you break it down a little bit further, obviously it goes a little deeper than that. But you know, with the instinctual triad, you. Those three types, eights, nines, ones, have a very distinct kind of basic motive. Same thing with the heart and the head.

The other thing that we have within the triads, you know, we have the instincts, the subtypes, right? There's three in all of those. So you're going to notice this pattern of threes, just like the triangle, and they're all interconnected. We use all three, just like we use all three centers of intelligence. We use all three of the instincts. And within the instincts, we have one that is our default, right? It's the one we go to first, just like our core Enneagram type. Our core Enneagram type is where we default to first in our motives and our fears, in the way that we think, feel or do. And within the instincts, we have one that is our go to default. We have a secondary one that is usually more accessible. And then one is more of our blind spot as we grow and evolve. Just like we can grow and evolve and move through the three centers of intelligence more elegantly. Same thing with our instincts, the self preservation instinct, the one on one instinct, and the social instinct. Now we also have.

Another triad within the Enneagram called the Hornevian triads. And this is basically our response to our emotional needs and what that looks like. And I will save more in depth on what that looks like for another episode. But I wanted to let you know, there is that triad as well. There is one more triad which is the harmonic triads. And this is kind of how these types go about getting what they need, right? So the Hornevian triads, the response to emotional needs, there is one from each center of intelligence that connects that triangle. Same thing with the harmonic triads. There's one from each type that kind of fits into that. You know, recognizing that we are more than just one type. We are way more than just one type. And this is where the beauty and the elegance of the Enneagram come into play when we know how to integrate this information. You know, when I was first learning about it and recognizing that I was an enneagram 8, if I wanted to just take that and run with it. I might have some success and some, some good things happening in my life. But you know, that 8 tool isn't always the right tool for the job. And same thing for you. You're way more than your type. It is your home base for where you're motivated. It's your home base for where you have your biggest fears. It is your home base for where you go by default. But the real secret sauce to using this powerful tool to accelerate transformation in your life, in all areas of your life, is to understand different triangles and how they are all interconnected. And when you do that, you will find yourself not judging yourself so much. You will also find yourself being able to get unstuck a little faster. And it is probably the number one thing I hear when I'm working with people of all calibers. Whether you're the CEO of a Fortune 50 company or you're a solopreneur, or you're a stay at home mom, or you're a dad doing the best he can, the number one thing I hear is I feel stuck. And understanding the interconnected connectedness not just by yourself, because if you think about a triangle, a triangle has two other kind of points connected to it. But so often we feel like we are on this desert island all by ourself. And when we start to recognize how we can use all the different triangles within the framework of the Enneagram that support who you are and your core motives and your core fears, this is when you can get yourself out of the box that you put yourself in and the world might put yourself in. This will also help you accelerate transformation and have better communication and all of that other stuff in your life. Now, how do you know kind of where you fall? You know, having the right information is key. And I will say this till I die about getting typed accurately. And there's lots of schools of thought on typing and how you should get typed. And as somebody who has worked with thousands of people and worked with, you know, companies like Google and Amazon and John Deere and so many diverse, different kinds of people, this getting the right information is really, really important. And that's why I have worked really hard over the last decade to bring you the blueprint and the assessment in which I use in order to give you your customized blueprint. Having the right information will allow you to more effectively use this framework more effectively, use this language, integrate this in real life situations. So you can go get that at tracee, o'malley.com, the work with me section is the most important step is having the right information. It's kind of like a GPS system. If you plug in the right coordinates, you're going to go in the right direction. And even when you know life throws you a curveball, it might take you on a detour from time to time, but you'll always end up back on that road to who and what your soul was always designed to do here in this lifetime. And so the more that you have the right information, this can be super helpful for you if you want to take it a little deeper and you know that you want to understand the right information, but you also want a little guidance in that I offer up 90 minute power sessions where we take that information and we talk about all areas of your life and how this gets integrated so that you can not feel so stuck and actually take this information and, and move through it a lot faster now. It's just like building any kind of muscle. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more consistent you are, the stronger it gets. And so all of that can be found@tracy omalley.com Every week I will be bringing you on the first part of the week enneagram 101 episodes, where we get into the nitty gritty of what the Enneagram is and what that, what that does for you. The second half of the week will be either integration, solo episodes, integration through the Enneagram hotline, which if you do the blueprint, you are eligible to come on the podcast and get your questions answered live. And if you want to be anonymous, you can do that too. Or I bring you industry, industry experts and friends of mine that are doing really cool in the world and have used and continue to use the integration of the Enneagram in all areas of their life. So definitely subscribe, Share with a friend if you find value. Please, please, please. Reviews mean a lot to me. Hate asking for anything. I'm not good at it. It is. I am slow to raise my hand as an enneagram8 and say, Hey, I need anything from anyone. But reviews mean the world to me. And you know, if you want to slide into my DMs and share with me, you absolutely can do that. If you love this episode and love these little enneagram101 tidbits, share it with the people that you love, the people that you lead, it means the world to me. And so do you. We'll see you next week.

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This show by sharing it with a friend and leaving a written Apple Podcast review. If you have any follow up questions to this episode, you can DM me directly on Instagram at traceyomalley. You can also find additional resources on my website website@tracy o'malley.com I'm excited to.

Lead you into the next level.